Rachel Greene
Rachel Karen Green (or sometimes Greene) (born May 5, 1970) is a fictional character on the popular United States TV series sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Jennifer Aniston. History Prior the series First Season Rachel is first introduced when Ross wishes to be married again, she appears in her wedding dress (due to the fact that she had just abandonded Barry at the altar), prompting Chandler to sarcastically respond "And I just want a million dollars!" She then decides to move in with Monica and gets a job in Central Perk (The Pilot). She then has to return Barry's ring and finds out that Barry is dating her now ex best friend Mindy(The One with the Sonogram at the End) She then falls for the new italian Paolo without realizing that Ross is in love with her (The One with the Blackout) but their relationship ends when Paolo makes a move on Pheobe (The One with the dozen lasagnas) She then is assigned to watch over Marcel, but she looses him, but then she blackmails a former classmate that trapped Marcel so she would give in Marcel, thus bringing him back. Ross then makes a move for her but Barry interrumpts claiming his love for her. She then has an affair with him but eventually confesses to Mindy, but the latter forgives Barry, much to Rachel's dissapointment. (The One with the Evil Ortodoncist) At Ben's birth she tries to seduce the doctor revealing her obsession with doctors (The One with the birth). At her birthday party she recieves a wonderful gift from Ross, then Chandler lets slip the whole truth, "Remember back in college when Ross was in love with Carol and he bought her that ridiculous and expensive crystal duck?" Amused Rachel cannot believe and goes to the airport but fails to catch Ross who was going to China. A week passes and she forgets the whole thing, but her date with Carl gets interrumpted when Ross "appears" to her and tell her to give it a shot, then after a "kiss" she storms off to the airport. But she didn't know that Ross was getting down the plane with another woman... (The One where Rachel finds out) Second Season Rachel realizes that Ross was getting off the plane with Julie, his new girlfriend, she tries to leave but she is caught by Ross.(The One with Ross's new girlfriend) She then becomes trapped in a love triangle when Ross finds out and kisses her, Ross breaks up with Julie but she blows him off when she realized that Ross made a pros and cons list (The One with the List) She then gets back at Ross, but she later changes her mind after watching the prom video(The One with the Prom Video)After that they make out but she laughs, at a second attempt they have a wonderful date at the museum and has sex with Ross (The One where Ross and Rachel you know) She then has to dress in a horrible pink dress which she decribes as "something you drink when you get nausea" to be Mindy's maid of honor, but her dress was showing all her butt, then she decides she cannot stand it and tries to leave as Barry makes fun at her, she then decides to sing Copacabana Third Season Rachel convinces Ross to tell him about a fantasy in order to full fill it, he tells her about the princess Leia fantasy. She tells Phoebe about it, Phoebe makes fun of this infront of Ross(she didn`t know it was him). Ross and Rachel argue about sharing stuff with other Friends, Ross remarks about the night of ten times. She eventually does the fantasy stuff but Ross is not turned on due to the fact that he kept watching his mother instead of Rachel, due to a conversation he and Chandler had earlier (The One with Princess Leia Fantasy) She helps Chandler, along with Ross with some of his relationship problems, but when Chandler asks about how not sleeping hugged she says she can`t help, Ross on the other hand explains him about the "Hug and roll" tactic. After Chandler uses it he ends up hurting Janice, after Rachel asks what happened to her she tells her about the "Hug and roll"(The One with the Metaphorical Tunnel) She is annoyed by the fact that her friends consider her useless in football, she is eventually traded from Ross's team to Monica's, making it boys vs girls, the girls eventually win because of her (The One with the Football) She is then convinced by Chandler and Joey to quit, she is glad that she won't make another cup of cofee anymore, or so she believes she ends up being a mere assistant that makes cofee(The One where Rachel quits) When she tells this to Monica at Moondance she meets Mark, a guy who works at Bloomindale's, he helps her out to get a job, thus making Ross jealous (The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister) So Ross makes all humanly possible so Mark can tell that Rachel is dating, this brings a lot of trouble to their relationship (The One with All the Jealousy) When Rachel can`t work in their anniversary, Ross brings her to the work a picnic as wreaking havoc, thus prompts a fight, both argue and Rachel decides to take a break Ross leaves, she spends an awful evening, Mark calls and hears her distraught so he comes over, Ross goes to a party where he calls Rachel, when he hears Mark voice he freaks out believing the worse, prompting him to have sex with Chloe, the copygirl.(The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break) Next morning she goes to Ross's place to make up, everything's ok 'til Gunther(who was an enormous crush on Rachel) "accidentally" told her about Ross's infidelity. She ends up locked in Monica's apartment havin a huge fight with Ross(this was so emotive that both David and Jen actually cried after it was filmed) and the eventually break up (The One On the Morning After) The next days she and Ross begin fighting about "We were on a break!" but eventually wettle down when Ross give Rachel her t-shirt back.The two become friends again.(The One with the Tiny T-Shirt) Then Rachel begins to date Mark, making Ross extremely jealous, but eventually ditches Mark because she is still not over Ross. Then she dates this screamer guy but blows him off when she discovers yelling at the duck.(The One with the Screamer) She then tells Phoebe it's ok to set up Ross with Bonnie, the bald girl, but trouble comes over when she realises that Bonnie is not bald anymore, therefore when they go to the beach she convinces Bonnie to shave her head. Ross goes to see what was Rachel's problem and Rachel abruptily reveals that she is still in love with him, they kiss but they're interrumpted by Joey and Chandler. Rachel goes to her room. Joey and Chandler tell Ross that he can go back with Bonnie or that he could go with Rachel and make things up. Ross goes upstairs and is left with the choice of who's room will he enter, he then walks into a room and says "hi"(The One at the Beach) Fourth Season Ross is revealed to entered Rachel's room, Bonnie is there too but soon gets back to her room, Ross and Rachel reconcile but Ross goes to break-up with Bonnie. At his return he finds that Rachel made an 18 page letter(front and back) but problems come when Ross falls asleep and Rachel asks if he takes it. Ross, needy, says yes but then he finds out that he took all the blame for the problems in their relationship, he at first keeps it to himself, but Rachel mades him blow up when she says "once a cheater, always a cheater" so he exclaims the famous "We were on a break!" they argue and yell each other and their relationship is put on a hiatus again. (The One with the Jellyfish) Ross and Rachel then begin a fight relationship even Rachel suggests that Ross apologizes to "Phoebe's mother/cat".(The One with the Cat)She urges Chandler to break up with her boss Joanna, but later finds a semi-naked Chandler handcuffed in Joanna's office, he and Rachel make a deal so Rachel won´t get fired(The One with the 'Cuffs) She is also revealed that she doesn´t know how to throw the garbage away and feels atacked by Treeger when Monica sends her to do so.(The One with the Ballroom Dancing) Rachel and Ross engage in a dating war when Ross begins to date a woman with a child, she begins dating a college student who in turn steals from her, at the end a sick Monica reveals the truth about each other dates.(The One with Joey's New Girlfriend) Later on, Monica and Rachel bet 100 dollars to the guys to know who knows best whom, later the game is "spiced" up Rachel says that if the guys loose they should get rid of the birds, however the guys accept in turn of Monica's apartment, Monica seals the deal and then looses the game and thus losing the apartment. Rachel urges Monica to get it back but she is unable to do so and they are forced to move to the guys apartment.(The One with the Embryos Besides from being forced to live in a smaller apartment she is transfered to another department in Bloomingdale's due to her boss Joana's sudden death. She tries to quit but gains interest in her new client Josh. (The One with Rachel's Crush) Then the latter asks her out to a party but she has already plans with her boss's niece Emily so she sets her up with Ross and the two turn out to bond pretty well. (The One with Joey's Dirty Day In order to attract Josh, Rachel throws a "surprise party" for Emily(and messing Ross's plans in the way) she uses her lucky dress and uses the "spin the bottle" game to try to kiss Josh but fails when Phoebe's babies kick. Later she wears her cheerleader dress to try to amuse Josh but fails also, later on Josh reveals that he likes her back but that he can't get involved at the moment, after that Ross and Rachel have a heart ot heart talk and Josh arrives to kiss Rachel, the latter happily exclaims that "Never(referring to the cheerleader dress) fails!"(The One with the Fake Party) Joshua invites Rachel to his parents' house, due to being unable to eat in front of the chick(now rooster) of the duck, who are told to be out of town. She changes into a more revealing dress and Joshua and his parents walk in, much to her embarrassment. Rachel tells that the dress was a new prototype dress and is forced to wear it to dinner and a boob pops out when the waiter spills water on her (The One with Rachel's New Dress) Ross and Emily announce their engagement later on (The One with All the Haste) Due to Ross and Emily's engament she urges Josh to marry her, thus scaring him and then finally pushes him over the edge when Monica and Phoebe convince her to dress as a bride, then she opens the door and says "I do" to try and scare Chandler, but it turns out to be Joshua and he ditches her.(The One with the Wedding Dresses) Ross later evalues their relationship as he decides wether to invite her to the wedding or not, she is invited but she rejects to go(The One with the Invitations) Ross tries to talk Rachel in to go to the wedding but she refuses. Phoebe tells her that's because she is still inlove with him she denies this but later on discover it's true and can't get over it so she storms off to London leaving a heavy pregnant Phoebe alone. At the airport she realises that she doesn't have a passport and comes back for it. Phoebe tries to talk her into not going but Rachel flees again prompting Phoebe to call Joey to warn him about Rachel. Rachel tells all the story in the plane, to a nearby passenger and another passenger exclaims that is unfair that she is his(Ross's) so call best friend, yet she is gonna go to London to ruin the best day of his life, Rachel ignores it. Ross and Emily share a tender moment at the church right before the wedding, Rachel arrives and sees this and realises that she wants Ross to be happy even if it's not with her, so she only says "Congratulations" and keeps the "I love you" for herself. The wedding begins and everything goes ok until the priest urges Ross to say "Me Ross, take you Emily as my lovely wife in sickness and in health 'til death do us apart" however Ross says "Me Ross, take you Rachel....." amazing everybody, including Phoebe who was on the phone, the priest amused asks a shocked Emily if the wedding should go on.....(The One with Ross's Wedding) Fifth season Rachel is surprised to hear Ross say "I take you Rachel" but the wedding goes on, although a little bit tensed up as Emily almost sticks the ring in Ross's finger and the Geller's remark that this wedding is worse than when he married the lesbian(Carol). Rachel ruins Monica and Chandler's plans to have sex when she goes to stick in the phone with Phoebe about recent events. She is also present when they discover that Emily escaped the same way she did. Rachel is crushed when Ross remarks that her name doesn't mean anything, but at the end she is convinced to go to Greece with Ross but Emily arrives to see the both together, Ross chases her and dumps Rachel in a plane to Greece (The One After Ross Says Rachel) Rachel returns from Greece angry and decides that from now on Monica will have absolute power over her love life, so she sets her up with a guy, bt then she decides to tell Ross that she loves him, when she tells him this she laughs so they don't take the whole thing as a big deal(The One with All the Kissing) When Phoebe gets in labor she asks Rachel if she could ask Frank and Alice to give her one of the babies, but she tells her that she can't. Later Phoebe explains that givin' birth is too painful for Rachel(The One Hundredth). Emily agrees to come to NY and make up things with Ross if he doesn't see Rachel ever again, Rachel(unkonwn to her) convinces Ross to do so, but when she finds out she freaks out and gets mad at Ross(The One with the Kips). Then Monica and her are scared by a hairy guy(dubbed the Yeti) and poison him, after realizing their mistake they try to apologize but he only answers "ok", then all the guys are hanging out when Emily calls and implies that it would be very unfortunate for Ross Rachel being there, this upsets Rachel so Ross confronts Emily and they decide to get the divorce.(The One with the Yeti) Phoebe invites Rachel to a book club but she won't take the class seriously so she embarrases her, so Rachel decides that she should go with Monica(The One with Ross's Sandwich). Rachel starts dating Danny(the Yeti) but she finds disturbeing the fact that he and his sister are so close so they break up(The One with the Inappropriate Sister). Rachel then decides that her New Year's Resolution will be to not gossip, but she is pushed to the limit when she finds out Chandler and Monica relationship, she decides to confront them but after hearing Monica telling Chandler how hard it is to her lying to Rachel, she backs down(The One with All the Resolutions)Then she helps Joey picking up clothes and picks a bag for him claiming that it is "unisex" when Joey doesn't understand she spells it out "u-n-isex" Joey then thinks she is inviting him for sex. She goes to Phoebe's Grandmother's funeral(The One with Joey's Bag) She decides to play practical jokes on Monica and Chanlder and helps Phoebe to uncover the whole truth(The One Where Everybody Finds Out)She goes along with Ross to buy a new couch and is angered when Ross tells a store emplyee that they had sex 298 times, she also helps trying to transport the couch to Ross's apartment(The One with the Cop) Rachel then gets a job opportunity to work at Ralph Lauren but she accidentally kisses her boss, then in a second interview she believes that he wants to sleep with her so she yells at her, at the end she convinces to hire her and then accidentally touches his penis(The One with Rachel's Inadvertent Kiss) Rachel then tries to smoke so she can fit in at work, but she convinces her Kim to quit smoking this backfires when her boss personally excludes her from the group(The One Where Rachel Smokes) Then she gets a date for Ross, but she gets a message for Ross from Emily telling him that she wants to rekindle their relation, she convinces Ross to leave Emily alone(The One Where Ross Can't Flirt)(The One with the Ride-Along) It's also told that she hates incoming objects towards an eye(The One with Joey's Big Break) When the guys leave for Vegas(with the exception of her and Ross) she walks around the apartment naked catching Ross's attention, he comes over believing her to be inviting him to the "physical act of love" Rachel and Ross depart for Vegas, Personality Rachel's personality evolved somewhat over the series. Early on, the focus was on her as a spoiled daddy's girl stereotype, although later in the series, especially after having her baby, Rachel became less self-absorbed. However, she was still the friend most focused on image and very selfish. She was often described as one of the most popular but also one of the snobbiest girls in school, and (Aniston's then-husband) Brad Pitt even once guest-starred as a jilted enemy from high school still angry at her treatment of him. Image-conscious Rachel had had a nose job at some point when she was a teenager, due she claimed, to a deviated septum. Flashback episodes show the teenaged Rachel with her much larger nose and the intimation is that the operation was for image rather than necessity, a fact seemingly confirmed by a flippant comment from her sister Amy regarding Emma - "Aren't you worried that she's going to inherit your real nose?". After an unhappy stint as a waitress, she was encouraged by her friends to follow her interests into the world of high fashion. Her focus on image and fashion often came at the expense of any domestic skills, of which she was mocked for having few. In one episode, for example, she memorably used meat when making the group a trifle for Thanksgiving dessert after misreading the recipe. Relationships Ross Rachel is perhaps most famous for her turbulent relationship with Monica's brother Ross Geller. Ross had apparently harboured a crush for Rachel since ninth grade. When Rachel moved to the city, Ross tried to re-kindle his affection, and after a rocky start the two finally got together in "The One With the Prom Video". After an argument over Rachel's friendship with a male co-worker, Rachel announced that they were taking "a break". Ross, thinking that Rachel was ending the relationship, got so drunk that he slept with "the cute girl from the copy place", Chloe. When Rachel found out, she broke up with Ross in a famous scene that involved Ross and Rachel arguing in Monica's living room whilst the other four friends were trapped in Monica's bedroom. From then on, the two shared an almost-on again-almost-off again relationship. First, Ross said Rachel's name instead of Emily's at his disastrous wedding ceremony in London. Later, on a trip to Las Vegas, the two got married after a drinking binge. Unable to get an annulment, they had to divorce, despite Ross' panic over being a "triple divorcee". Rachel and Ross later had a baby, Emma, who was conceived after a one-night stand, although they chose to remain just friends and live together to raise Emma. Eventually, in the final season, Rachel and Ross finally got together after she almost moved to Paris for a new job. Other relationships *Barry Farber/Finkle *Paolo *Joshua Bergin *Paul Stevens *Tag Jones *Gavin Mitchell *Joey Tribbiani Career Rachel got her first job as a waitress at Central Perk. She turned out to be hopeless, taking long breaks to sit with her friends and getting orders mixed up regularly. In the third season, after encouragement from Joey and Chandler she quit her coffee shop job to enter a career in fashion, working as a personal assistant at Fortunata Fashions and a personal shopper at Bloomingdales. She finally became a buyer at Ralph Lauren, where she memorably had an affair with her assistant. Dwellings Rachel has lived with all of the friends at some stage. For six years, Rachel lived in Monica's apartment and they had a likeable, enduring chemistry which was to become one of the main elements of the show. She then moved in with Phoebe, with whom she squabbled over things like Pottery Barn furniture and their morning jogging routine. After her and Phoebe's apartment burned down, she moved in with Joey, but then after having her baby moved in with Ross. Later, she moved back in with Joey again. It is often incorrectly stated that she has never lived with Chandler, however, in the previously mentioned episode in which her and Phoebe's apartment burned down, she briefly moves back into Monica's apartment (in which Chandler is also a resident) before moving in with Joey the next day (as punishment) after it is discovered that it was her abandoned hair straighteners which she had left turned on that started the fire. Surname Some inconsistency in the spelling of the surname has led to confusion as to the correct spelling. In the credits it is always spelled as "Green", particularly when referring to the surnames of her parents. However, within the show itself it has been spelled "Greene", including when her name was written on an invitation and subsequent RSVP. Considering the fact that the spelling "Greene" was seen on an invitation sent out by an outside party, the correct surname most probably spelled "Green" based on the show's credits. The name plate on her office door also says Greene. The subtitles of the DVDs also change: in the earliest seasons' DVDs it's spelled Greene, than changing it to Green. Age and birthday Although Rachel's age is treated inconsistently by the show's writers, the best evidence is that she was born on May 5, 1970 or 1971. *Birthday Month and Day In Season Four's "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend", Rachel tells Gunther her birthday is May 5, and this is consistent with the month of birthday parties thrown for her on the show, e.g. the party in Season One's "The One Where Rachel Finds Out", which aired in May, 1995, and Season Five's month-early surprise party in "The One Where Rachel Smokes", which aired in April 1999. Rachel's 30th birthday, however, is celebrated in February in Season Seven's "The One Where They All Turn Thirty", which aired on February 8, 2001. (There is no question that the party is on the birthday itself: Rachel at one point says "In Guam I'm still 29".) Rachel also mentions that her birthday is after Valentine's day in The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie ("next thing you know, it'll be Valentine's day, then my birthday, then... Bang! They're lighting that damned tree again".) A birthday in February is also consistent with Rachel's statement to a police officer in Season 7 that she is an Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19) --May 5th would make her a Taurus. *Year of Birth A 30th birthday in 2001 (Season Seven's "The One Where They All Turn Thirty") implies that Rachel was born in 1971. Her 30th birthday is celebrated as the last while the 30th birthday of others are shown in the flashback which makes her the youngest of all six. However, a 29th birthday in 1999 (Season Five's "The One Where Rachel Smokes") implies that she was born in 1970. In other episodes, Rachel's stated age is inconsistent with birth in either 1970 or 1971, and advances at varying speeds. Chandler refers to her as 28 in Season 3's "The One Where Rachel Quits" (December 12, 1996), but 15 months later Rachel describes herself as "a 28 year old cheerleader with a fat lip" in Season 4's "The One with the Fake Party" (March 19, 1998). While these differences appear as inconsistencies, it may be in keeping with Green's character to shield her actual age. Trivia *Rachel, like Ross, has kissed all five of her fellow Friends castmembers. She kissed Ross numerous times during their romantic relationships, she kissed Chandler at a college party in "The One Where the Stripper Cries", she kissed Phoebe when Phoebe wanted to know what the fuss was after Rachel convinced her that she shared a passionate kiss with her old sorority buddy in "The One with Rachel's Big Kiss", she kissed Joey numerous times during their brief relationship, and she kissed Monica after striking a deal with Chandler and Joey to get their apartment back if they kissed for one minute in front of them, though this is off-screen. *One of Rachel's trademark expressions when shocked or angry was to drag out the enunciation of the word "no". This was periodically paired with Monica's "I know!". *Two of Jennifer Aniston's real life boyfriends portrayed characters on the show: Tate Donovan as Rachel's boyfriend Joshua during the fourth season and Brad Pitt as Will, a high school classmate whose intense dislike of Rachel was revealed when he came to Thanksgiving dinner in "The One with the Rumor". (Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were married by the time the episode aired.) *In season 8, she sees all male friends naked. *Rachel was both the first credited Friend and the last introduced.